SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF CORTICAL POTENTIAL FIELDS OF OPTIC CHIASM-SECTIONED CAT

Precisely time-locked unit cortical potentials are not generally observed in cats with divided (or sectioned) optic chiasm when light is shined into the contralateral eye. The amplitude of the concomitant slow component of the contralateral cortical responses is much smaller than that observed in the simultaneously responding ipsilateral cortex. Partial and complete section of the corpus callosum does not alter the pattern of the summated (averaged) contralateral and ipsilateral cortical responses to light. It thus appears that various commissures other than the corpus callosum mediate the observed cortical response. These bilateral cortical responses probably subserve some element of binocular vision in the cat. © 1969.